Back to Table of Contents
Dependent and Independent Clauses
Summary
Understanding the distinction between dependent and independent clauses is crucial for mastering sentence structure, particularly for the GRE English test.
- Dependent clauses cannot stand alone as sentences because they do not express a complete thought and often begin with words like 'who' or 'when'.
- Independent clauses express a complete thought, contain a subject and a verb, and can stand alone as a sentence.
- The presence of dependent marker words (e.g., because, when, if) transforms an independent clause into a dependent one.
- Identifying and correctly combining dependent and independent clauses is a key skill tested in the GRE, often through sentence correction questions.
- Proper punctuation and understanding the role of conjunctions are essential in connecting clauses correctly to avoid run-ons or fragments.
Chapters
00:01
Introduction to Clauses
00:19
Identifying Independent and Dependent Clauses
03:51
The Role of Dependent Marker Words
04:43
Applying Clause Knowledge to Test Questions
